(BPT) – For those who can’t go home for the holidays, sending loved ones a text or social media shout out may be a sufficient alternative to celebrating in-person.

Bank of America’s Trends in Consumer Mobility Report, which explores timely mobile trends and forward-looking behaviors, shows that the line between the physical and digital is blurring. Americans are getting more comfortable forming relationships, communicating and even gifting via digital channels.

According to the report, the majority (60 percent) of consumers believe they can be friends with someone they’ve only met virtually, and many (42 percent) view communicating virtually just as or more meaningful than communicating in-person. When it comes to how they’re communicating, consumers prefer mobile to in-person when connecting with loved ones, including siblings (74 percent), friends (68 percent) and parents (53 percent).

“These growing trends are why we take a unique high-tech, high-touch approach, meeting our 36 million digital clients where they are,” said Nikki Katz, head of digital strategy and emerging experiences at Bank of America. “Whether it’s through digital or physical interactions, our job is to make it easy for our clients to bank how and where they want to.”

Other findings from the report include:

Paying the new way

Thanks to person-to-person payment services (P2P), you can skip the stress of holiday shopping. Forty-four percent of consumers currently use P2P. Out of those users, 81 percent say they are comfortable gifting money via the technology, with nearly half saying they would use it specifically for holiday gifts.

Accelerating the move to mobile banking

Mobile banking usage continues to rise, as nearly three-quarters of consumers say they use their bank’s mobile app. Perhaps this is because nearly all mobile banking users feel the app saves them time, with 80 percent saying it saves them up to an hour per week.